Aurelia Butler

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden told top American rabbis on Thursday that he felt antisemitism has “risen to record levels” and was a big challenge for the entire country, while also taking a dig at Republican former President Donald Trump over the issue.”Antisemitism has risen to record levels,” Biden said in a call with U.S. rabbis to commemorate the Jewish High Holidays.”In the past several years, it has been given too much oxygen,” Biden added.The Democratic president said in the call that the 2017 “Unite the Right” white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, made him decide that he should run for president.The rally followed months of protests over the city’s plan to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Hundreds of white nationalists traveled to Charlottesville in August 2017, with some marching on the University of Virginia campus carrying torches and chanting “Jews will not replace us!”Trump, who was president at the time, was criticized for initially saying there were “fine people on both sides” after the rally devolved into violent clashes.”That is when I decided I had to stay engaged instead of walking away,” Biden said in the call on Thursday, quoting Trump’s remarks from then. The president added: “Silence is complicity.”Trump denies allegations of antisemitism.The social and political climate in the United States has become fertile ground for antisemitism in recent years, according to a report released in April by advocacy group Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Tel Aviv University. Expressions of hatred against Jews have become “mainstreamed and normalized,” and incidents of violence, vandalism, and harassment of Jews have increased, the report had said.More than 3,600 antisemitic incidents were recorded in the United States in 2022, more than in any year since ADL began tracking the issue in 1979. More

NEW YORK (Reuters) -UBS Group CEO Sergio Ermotti plans to stay at the helm through 2026 to integrate former rival Credit Suisse in a process he likened to a marathon.”I need to finish the job,” Ermotti told the Economic Club of New York on Thursday. “My commitment is to finish the job, and for sure that means staying through the end of 2026. I can’t be already thinking about where I would go three months after starting.” The biggest bank merger since the global financial crisis was hastily arranged in March by the Swiss government to avert Credit Suisse’s collapse. During the weekend the deal was struck, Ermotti was at a football game when his phone started to ring. UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher later called him about rejoining the firm. “It was on Monday morning the chairman of UBS called me and asked me in to see me. I guess I started to suspect it probably was not about having a beer,” Ermotti said.After serving as CEO from 2011 to 2020, Ermotti said he felt a duty to return and steer the bank through the turmoil. Looking ahead, Ermotti pointed to the U.S. and Asia as growth areas. But he cautioned investors may be too confident about the likelihood of soft landing in which the U.S. economy avoids a major recession.Wealthy clients are flocking to money market funds in the U.S., tempted by higher rates, he added.And “despite geopolitical tensions with China, Asia is the place to be for the next 10 to 20 years,” he said. UBS said last month it wants to cut $10 billion in costs by the end of 2026 and lay off 3,000 people in Switzerland. Analysts have estimated between 30,000 and 35,000 jobs could be cut globally. More

(Reuters) – A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Jamie McGeever, financial markets columnist.Asian markets are set to end the week strongly following risk-friendly moves in the U.S. and Europe on Thursday, although a deluge of top-tier economic data from China on Friday could sour the mood at a stroke.The latest indicators from the region’s largest economy to be released include house prices, fixed asset investment, retail sales, industrial production and unemployment, all for August.The annual pace of retail sales and industrial production growth is expected to pick up, but fixed asset investment growth is predicted to slow to a new low of 3.3% going back to the 1990s, if pandemic-related distortions in early 2020 are excluded.The People’s Bank of China insists it will take “appropriate” steps to support the economy, although a growing number of economists are skeptical Beijing will meet its 5% GDP growth target this year and many are cutting their 2024 outlooks.The PROC on Thursday announced its second 25-basis point cut to banks’ reserve requirement ratio this year. Unsurprisingly, the move stopped the yuan’s recent mini-revival in its tracks, and pressure on the currency on Friday will probably be to the downside again.China’s deteriorating trade relations with the West, meanwhile, is a darkening cloud that shows no sign of lifting.Beijing has hit back at a European Commission probe into China’s electric vehicle subsidies as protectionist, warning it would damage economic relations, and analysts have warned that if the probe results in punitive tariffs, Beijing will take retaliatory action.However, all that could be parked for another day if investors decide to run with Thursday’s bullish momentum. It was a case of ‘good news is good news’ for Wall Street as investors welcomed hot U.S. retail sales and accelerating producer prices as a sign of economic resilience rather than fret about the hawkish rate implications.Coupled with falling euro zone bond yields and implied rates after the European Central Bank’s ‘dovish hike’ – perhaps the central bank’s last in the cycle – risk assets got a shot in the arm, paving the way for a positive open in Asia on Friday.The big three U.S. indexes rose between 0.8% and 1.0%, European stocks had their best day in six months and the MSCI Asia ex-Japan Index had its best day in 10 days on Thursday. The rise in oil to new 2023 highs and another dollar surge failed to dampen investors’ mood.Another positive portent for Asian markets on Friday: the VIX gauge of implied S&P 500 equity volatility – Wall Street’s so-called ‘fear index’ – registered its lowest close on Thursday since before the pandemic.Here are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Friday:- China ‘data dump’ (August)- Indonesia trade (August)- New Zealand manufacturing PMI (August) (By Jamie McGeever; Editing by Josie Kao) More

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks ended sharply higher and the greenback jumped on Thursday as robust economic data failed to budge expectations that the Federal Reserve will leave its key interest rate unchanged next week.The rally boosted a broad array of assets. All three major stock indexes ended higher, as did all 11 major sectors of the S&P 500. The dollar jumped to a six-month high, 10-year Treasury yields rose, and crude oil futures hit their highest this year, helping energy stocks outperform the broader market.A spate of economic data released before the opening bell showed energy prices, specifically gasoline, were largely responsible for a hotter-than-expected producer prices print and a consensus-beating retail sales reading.”There’s a reason why the Fed focuses on core inflation,” said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist Ingalls & Snyder in New York. “Food and energy prices are volatile and seasonal, so (the PPI report) won’t change their actions in the coming period.” “Core PPI continued to slow on a year-to-year basis and retail sales were stronger,” Ghriskey added. “This is not a weak economy.”The European Central Bank (ECB) hiked its key interest rate to a record high, but also hinted that this latest increase would be its last.”Once one central bank decides they’re going to pause, everyone gets on board,” said Michael Green, chief strategist at Simplify Asset Management in Philadelphia. “There’s a general sense that the rate hiking cycle is done for now.”Financial markets have baked in a 97% likelihood of the Fed holding the fed funds target rate steady at 5.25%-5.50% at the conclusion of next week’s monetary policy meeting, and a growing 66.7% chance of holding firm at the November meeting to follow, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 331.98 points, or 0.96%, to 34,907.51, the S&P 500 gained 37.73 points, or 0.84%, to 4,505.17 and the Nasdaq Composite added 112.47 points, or 0.81%, to 13,926.05.European stocks jumped to their biggest one-day percentage gain in six months, after the ECB – hiking interest rates for the tenth straight time – suggested it was at the end of its monetary policy tightening cycle.The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 1.52% and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.82%.Emerging market stocks rose 0.71%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.66% higher, while Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.41%.The dollar jumped to a six-month high against a basket of world currencies in the wake of the stronger-than-expected U.S. economic data, and following on euro weakness following the ECB rate decision.The dollar index rose 0.57%, with the euro down 0.8% to $1.0642.The Japanese yen strengthened 0.01% versus the greenback at 147.46 per dollar, while sterling was last trading at $1.2408, down 0.64% on the day. U.S. Treasury yields inched higher, as investors digested the PPI and retail sales reports.Benchmark 10-year notes last fell 11/32 in price to yield 4.2903%, from 4.248% late on Wednesday.The 30-year bond last fell 26/32 in price to yield 4.3869%, from 4.337% late on Wednesday.Oil prices surged to their highest since November as a tighter supply outlook offset demand concerns.U.S. crude jumped 1.85% to settle at $90.16 per barrel, while Brent finished at $93.70 per barrel, up 1.98% on the day.Gold prices rebounded after an initial dip in opposition to the strengthening greenback.Spot gold added 0.2% to $1,909.08 an ounce. More